Message of hope defines UAE anti-homophobia day

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES – The United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) LGBT group commemorated the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO), May 17, with a message of hope and appeal for dialogue and change, reports pinknews.co.uk.

Abdalla, the chair of the group said, “On the 17th of May 1990 the World Health Organization (WHO) removed homosexuality from the international classification of diseases. Today is the international day against Homophobia and Transphobia, and I sincerely hope the Emirates medical and psychological associations will soon follow in the footsteps of the WHO.

“I hope that LGBT people in the U.A.E. will soon no longer have to live in fear, I hope that in the near future there will be programs that protect the youth in school from being bullied, as I was but never really realized how bad it was until now, I hope that in time homosexuality will not be treated as a hormone imbalance, but rather a normal variation of love and sexuality, that isn’t shunned by society.”

The U.A.E. is a federation of seven emirates who each have different harsh laws regarding homosexuality, from up to 10 years in prison in Dubai to 14 in Abu-Dhabi, while Article 354 of the Federal Penal Code may even prescribe a death sentence for ‘consensual sodomy’. Punishment for homosexuality may range from harsh imprisonment, fines, deportation, flogging and death.